Climate data

2020

• Approved Shift:Neutral climate action plan
• Launched campus-wide energy audit to facilitate holistic understanding of energy-savings opportunities across campus buildings
• Hosted Climate Change Town Hall to formally launch Shift: Neutral and answer questions from the University community on Waterloo's climate action plan next steps
• Began drafting low-carbon design standards for new construction

2019

• Released tender for campus-wide energy audit and selected preferred proponent
• Working Group held six public open-house drop-in sessions and attended various events to seek student and employee input on climate action plan, reaching over 200 participants
• Working Group held workshop with key staff, administration, faculty, and student stakeholders to discuss draft directions and background
• Drafted, refined, and brought forward Shift:Neutral climate action plan for approval

2018

• University formed a Working Group of the President’s Advisory Committee on Environmental Sustainability to develop the long-term action plan
• Working Group developed background paper on draft directions

• Working Group retained consulting firm to provide outline on feasibility studies required for development of a net-neutral strategy
• Working Group completed business-as-usual forecast, and interviews with other campuses

Boundary

All campuses. Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo provide data to include in this report for purposes of transparency, but are separate from the goals and actions of the University of Waterloo.

Emissions Sources (Scopes)

The following are a description of the methodology used to develop emissions calculations for material sources. The Scope of emissions, from the GHG Protocol, is included in brackets next to each source.

Scope 1 = Direct emissions
Scope 2 = Indirect emissions from energy purchases
Scope 3 = Upstream or downstream indirect emissions

Natural Gas, Fuel Oil, Gasoline, Diesel (1):
Source data was taken from annual billing and calculated against relevant emissions factors for each source, based on Canada's National Inventory Report. In 2022, Canada updated historical emission factors for natural gas, which have gradually shifted in heat and carbon content over time.  This resulted in minor differences in gas combustion emissions compared to historical reports. Canada also refined in 2017-18 the methodology for calculating diesel and gasoline emissions from mobile combustion. These were retroactively updated and have no material change in emissions quantities for the campus. Emission factors for heavy fuel oil used as backup in the Central Plant were sourced from the US Environental Protection Agency for the closest available fuel blend, since this fuel type is not explicitly listed in Canada's National Inventory Report.

Electricity (2):
Waterloo uses the emissions factors provided by the Province of Ontario through Canada’s National Inventory Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Province updates electricity emissions annually for the period three years previous, and provides an estimate for the period two years previous. As such, Waterloo updates emission factors for electricity on a rolling 3-year basis, releasing estimates and corrections for the previous two reporting years. Waterloo uses an average emission factor, not marginal emission factors.

Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Losses (3):
Transmission & Distribution losses refer to the line losses and residual emissions from SF6 that are released in transporting electricity from its source of generation (i.e. a power plant, hydro dam, etc.) to the University. Power losses mean that slightly higher amounts of energy must be produced in order to supply the energy that Waterloo actually uses. These are taken as the difference between annual Generation Intensity  factors and Consumption Intensity emission factors in Canada's National Inventory Report.

Water (3):
Water emissions are a result of the energy required to extract, pump, and treat municipal water. They are based on estimates provided by the Region of Waterloo, which in turn is multiplied against the relevant emission factor for electricity. These have declined in materiality over time and are now considered de minimis.

Business Travel – Mileage (3):
Source data is generated through the University of Waterloo’s Concur expense claim system. Since employees are reimbursed at a flat rate per kilometer, the financial data can be converted into distance travelled. This is multiplied against a standard emissions factor for a sales-weighted average vehicle fuel efficiency and respective emission factor.

Business Travel - Airfare (3): Not Calculated
Waterloo has estimated emissions from University-paid airfare, but they are highly preliminary in nature and are not of sufficient data quality to be included here. Work is underway to improve the methodology for tracking this. In the interest of transparency, it is estimated from preliminary review that this could be another 10,000 tCO₂-e annually, with very wide margins of uncertainty.

Commuting (3):
Source data is collected from the student and employee travel survey developed and hosted by the TravelWise program at the Region of Waterloo. The survey asks participants to describe the mode of travel they use to get to campus, the distance they travel, and the class of vehicle they drive, if applicable. The survey also gathers information on whether they are full or part time, and whether they are students, staff, or faculty. The distance travelled is compounded by weighting factors above to extrapolate over the course of a year, and is multiplied by NRCAN rated vehicle fuel efficiency for the class of vehicle selected. The outputs are then weighted according to each respective population (student, staff, faculty).

Trips by walking, cycling, and teleworking are assumed to have zero emissions. Travel by carpooling uses the same methodology as above, but is divided by two to reflect double occupancy of a vehicle. Travel by transit uses the same methodology as above, but is multiplied against an emissions factor per passenger kilometer travelled rather than vehicle fuel efficiency.

The survey tool is released in the fall and respondents are asked to select the trips taken to campus over the previous week. It also asks respondents their primary mode of travel, and whether that mode shifts seasonally. For the purposes of emissions calculations, the seasonally-adjusted primary mode of travel is reported here. The emissions calculations based on the trips-over-past-week methodology is statistically identical (within the survey’s margin of error).

Waterloo has conducted the survey for employees since 2012. However, it only started including student responses as of 2018. To show an estimate of the true scale of these emissions and to avoid confusion with perceived "increases" in data points as more data is gathered, historical commuting emissions prior to 2018 are included as estimates, scaled to population size. 

Waste (3):
Source data comes from invoices for waste sent to landfill, and is multiplied against standardized emission factors developed by the Region of Waterloo. Diverted waste streams are not included as part of the emissions calculation.

Since the University of Waterloo collects all waste on campus in aggregate, emissions related to waste are recorded under the University’s section and omitted from the Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo, although they would be responsible for a portion of the waste generation.

Supply Chain (3): Not Calculated
Upstream supply chain emissions are a sigificant source of indirect emissions for the University. Procurement of products, services, equipment, and commodities can have large carbon impacts. Preliminary efforts are underway to better understand and quantify these, including in categories such as food-related emissions, paper purchasing, electronic equipment, and furniture. This will take significant time to complete.

Embodied Carbon (3): Not Calculated
Although part of Waterloo's Supply Chain, embodied carbon is a large source of emissions resultant from the production of steel, concrete, asphalt, glass, and other major construction materials used for buildings and infrastructure. These have not been quantified historically, although requirements for quantification have been integrated into the new building design standard.

Emission Factors

(EPA) US Environmental Protection Agency guidance for emissions from combustion

(NIR 2022) From Canada’s 2021 National Inventory Report – Part 2

(NIR 2022) From Canada’s 2021 National Inventory Report – Part 3

(SWR 2013a) From Sustainable Waterloo Region’s Water Emissions Guidance Paper

(SWR 2013b) From Sustainable Waterloo Region’s Waste Emissions Guidance Paper

(SWR 2012) From Sustainable Waterloo Region's Guide to the Regional Carbon Initiative